Calvary Assembly of God | Craig T. Owens

April 2026
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30

Weekend Recap

March 20, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

We had a great time Rockin’ For Haiti on Friday night! This was our fundraiser for Convoy of Hope, to assist them in their work in both Haiti and Chile. Based on the amount of money we raised, we’re helping COH provide nearly 500 meals!

We’ve already got our next benefit show planned. Save Friday, April 30, for Rockin’ For Smiles. More details coming later, but Edge From Falling will be our headline guest.

A couple other things to keep on your radar screen (and your calendars):

Tomorrow we’re wrapping up our two-part series on the life of Andrew. This is an amazing disciple of Jesus. Although he’s only mentioned by name 13 times in the Bible, and only has 27 words recorded, we see something desirable about his life: all he did was bring people to Jesus. I could talk a lot more about this man (and we will do so later on), but we’re wrapping up Be An Andrew on Sunday.
Passion week is coming up quickly. We’ll have a noon Good Friday service on April 2. And don’t forget about Conspiracy! An Easter Breakfast Drama on Sunday, April 4. Breakfast, music, a celebration of Christ’s resurrection, and an original Easter play. It’s going to be fantastic.
One final thing. I’m really excited for our special guest speaker next Sunday, April 28. Our Assembly of God Michigan District Superintendent will be with us. I love Bill Leach, and you won’t want to miss the powerful word he is going to bring.

So many great opportunities to invite your friends to meet Jesus—just like Andrew did. I hope to see you at Calvary Assembly of God soon.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Andrew, Calvary Assembly of God, Convoy of Hope, Easter, Good Friday, Haiti, resurrection, Resurrection Sunday, sermon. Leave a Comment »

Out Of The Tomb (Box)

March 15, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I’m getting more and more excited about Easter Sunday. Jesus is out of the tomb, so we’re going to do something out of the box.

We’ve written an original play called Conspiracy! We’re going to present it on April 4 as a part of our Resurrection celebration at our Easter breakfast drama. I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag, but let me just say, this play is going to take a lot of people by surprise.

There’s no cost for the breakfast, and we’ll be presenting the breakfast drama twice: at 9am and 11am.

Make your plans now to join us… it’s going to be an incredible celebration!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, drama, Easter, resurrection. 2 Comments »

Wind Or Anchor

March 15, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I so appreciate my church Board!

They are by no means a bunch of “yes men” (especially since one of our Board members is a woman!), but they are definitely great teammates. When I want to dream, they dream along with me. When I’m looking for a new way to do something, they help me explore our options. When I propose that we experiment, they give me the latitude to make the attempt.

They are the wind in my sails.

Unfortunately I’ve been around too many board members who feel it is their job to play devil’s advocate, or to hold the pastor to the time-honored traditions (without any regard to their effectiveness), or to always play everything safe.

They are an anchor around a pastor’s ankle.

French novelist Andre Gide noted,

“One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.”

Thanks, Calvary A/G Board, for allowing us to lose sight of the shore every once in awhile so that we can see what new lands God will help us discover. You are definitely the wind in my sails.

What about you, dear reader? You may not be on an official board, but your comments and attitudes can either be wind or an anchor to someone close to you. Which are you?

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Andre Gide, Board, Calvary Assembly of God, church, encouragement, leadership, pastoring, quote, team. 2 Comments »

What Do You Want On Your Tombstone

March 12, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I’m preparing for our upcoming series called Be An Andrew.

Andrew was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, but we know so little about him. Only a few of his spoken words are recorded for us, and he is only mentioned by name 13 times in the New Testament. But one thing is so clear in those few mentions: All he did was invite people to meet Jesus…

His brother Peter, who went on to become one of the leaders of the first Christian church.
A young boy, whose small lunch fed thousands.
Non-Jewish Greeks who wanted to meet the Messiah.

Wouldn’t you love to have that written on your tombstone? If my entire life was captured in just one sentence, I’d love for it to be:

He just brought people to Jesus.

What do you want on your tombstone?

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Andrew, Calvary Assembly of God, Jesus Christ, missionary, Peter, sermon. Leave a Comment »

Amazing Book!

March 8, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I was reviewing some of my notes for our Spiritual Self-Defense class, and I’m always amazed at the unity and accuracy of the Bible. The Bible tells one unified story from beginning to end. For any other book, this is no big deal; in fact, we expect our books to tell the same story all the way through.

But what’s so mind-boggling for me is the fact that the Bible tells its unified story considering:

It was written by 45 different authors
Writing over a span of 1500 years
In three different languages
On three different continents

Not only does the Bible tell the same story, but it does so without error or contradiction! What an amazing book!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: apologetic, Bible, Calvary Assembly of God. Leave a Comment »

BOGOF

March 7, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Sometimes to get a point across, the only thing you can do is create a new word. Does anyone remember Rich Hall’s list of sniglets on Saturday Night Live? A list of 20 sniglets is here.

This morning we talked about the Parable of the Talents, where the servants were expected to do something with the talents God had given them. Then Jesus talks about the end of time judgment where we are divided into those who did something for God by addressing human needs, and those who ignored the human needs around them.

How do we remember this? How do we apply it to everyday life?

Then it hit me: we all eat; in fact, most of us eat every day. In order to eat, many of us go to the grocery store. And to help stretch the food budget, we often use coupons. When we get one of those buy-one-get-one-free coupons (a BOGOF), what do we do with the free one? Do we consume it ourselves, or could we give it away? Wouldn’t giving away the free one honor God by helping feed the hungry?

So we created a word—BOGOF—and turned it into a refrigerator magnet. We’re going to do our best to build into our daily lives the habit of loving others by addressing their practical needs.

Why don’t you try it yourself? Maybe you can create your own word too! If you do, please be sure to share it in the comments below.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, compassion, Gospel of Matthew, helping hand, hunger, love others, serve others, stewardship. Leave a Comment »

Stepping Up To The Challenge

March 5, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I shared with you earlier how my faith was challenged and stretched when my leadership team believed we could hit a much larger missions-giving goal than I had thought. (You can read about my little faith here.)

On Wednesday night we challenged our Impact students to believe God to do big things through them, and we asked them to make a faith promise. To say, “God, if You will help me give this amount to Speed The Light, I will do it.” Last night I was able to sit down with my leaders to tally up the cards that were turned in. Just in their faith promises alone our youth group has already committed one-third of our total goal!

I’m so proud of our students! I’ll keep you posted on how we’re doing. Please pray for us that we’ll be creative in finding new ways to raise money for missions, and that we’ll continue to have our faith stretched.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, Impact! youth group, missions, Speed The Light. Leave a Comment »

Rockin’ for Haiti

March 4, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

We are hosting another benefit show at Calvary Assembly of God. Our first show was a fundraiser for Latin America Child Care, and it was very well received.

This rock show is a fundraiser for Convoy of Hope. COH is a wonderful humanitarian organization that is bringing food, water purification systems, and other vital personnel and supplies into two areas that have been ravaged by earthquakes: Haiti and Chile.

It’s just a $2 cover charge to get in. Currently we have three local bands scheduled to perform. All our proceeds will go directly to COH.

Join us on Friday, March 19, doors open at 7 PM.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, Chile, Convoy of Hope, fundraiser, Haiti, Impact! youth group, Latin America Child Care. Leave a Comment »

A Sense Of Urgency?

February 27, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I’m reading a challenging book today called Endued With Power: The Holy Spirit in the Church. I just read a thought-provoking quote from the book:

“If the church that is claiming to be Spirit-filled is not a missionary community that is living with a sense of urgency, then its members will be caught up in the rush to respectability and social accommodation” —Steven J. Land

(1) Do we have that sense of urgency? Are we living and working and sharing like today is the day Jesus could return?

…or…

(2) Or are we more concerned about what is socially acceptable and politically correct? Are we just playing church?

I pray that I am leading our church always into that first category. I pray that I personally am always living with that sense of urgency.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, carpe diem, church, evangelistic, Holy Spirit, missional, Pentecostal, quote. Leave a Comment »

Campfire Stories

February 25, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Have you ever just sat around a glowing campfire with your friends? During those times I’ll bet that some cool conversations took place.

Maybe you heard a story about a friend that you had never heard before.
Perhaps you got some insight into someone’s way of looking at life.
Or maybe you had a chance to share something that had been on your heart for a while.

Last night in Impact we had a great campfire time. We didn’t light any wood on fire. Actually, our worship time was really passionate and intimate, so the Holy Spirit lit a fire for us. Then instead of our usual setting with all our chairs facing the speaker on the platform, I asked everyone to turn their chairs into a big circle.

To wrap up our Be You series, my favorite guest shared. (Hint: she’s my first and only girlfriend.) We heard a great reminder that it’s our job to prepare ourselves to be ready to walk through the doors that God opens for us. Betsy reminded us that God isn’t going to open a door that we’re not yet ready to walk through. So we study, and pray, and prepare, and get degrees, and take classes, and stay ready. Then when God says, “Go,” we can say “Yes!”

I loved our campfire last night, and I’m definitely looking forward to more times like this.